The Road to Understanding
by DarkAngelSnapeLover
Summary: Ladonna has volunteered with Miss Morgan's preschool class to help the children achieve their dreams. When she is paired with Emily, who wants to run a lemonade stand, a culture clash occurs that causes the weekend to end in disaster. Will Ladonna's Southern heritage come between her and the preschoolers? One-shot. Completed for one-shot theme list challenge with TheUltimateCombo.


**The Road to Understanding**

Ladonna was volunteering with Miss Morgan's class at the daycare. She wanted to help the younger children follow their dreams, dreams they couldn't fulfill on their own. For this upcoming weekend, she was to work with Emily running a lemonde stand, so on Friday afternoon, the two went to the grocery store to buy the supplies.

This was the first time Emily and Ladonna had formally met, and as they entered the baked good aisle to get sugar, Emily asked about her funny accent.

"I'm from the South," Ladonna replied. "I'm from Lousianna specifically. So you know where that state is?"

"Is that the one shaped like a boot?" Emily asked.

Ladonna thought for a moment before chuckling, "Huh, it does look like a boot. I never though o' that before. That explains why my Uncle Rufus buried all his paychecks in old boots. He loves Lousianna, even the mosquitos taller than cane poles and fatter than bullfrogs!" she laughed, piling two five-pound bags of sugar into the cart. "What? Why you look so confused?"

"What are cane poles and bullfrogs?" Emily asked.

"Cane is sugar cane. It grows a lot in the south and people make fishin' poles out of 'em. Have you ever been fishin' before?" Ladonna asked. Emily shook her head. "Oh, and bullfrogs are these huge frogs. Ooh, have you ever had fried frog legs before?"

"Ew, no!" Emily cried.

"Aww, you don't know what you're missin', kid," Ladonna smiled, shaking her head and pushing the cart towards the produce section. "Do you want to make strawberry lemonade or just the classic recipe?"

"We can do that. Hey, what kind of drinks do you drink in Lousiana? My mom says she always drinks sweet tea in the south. Do they have that there?" Emily asked.

"Oh, gallons of it! I knew a guy who could drink two gallons in one day," Ladonna said, grabbing a bag and opening it. She held it out to Emily, who held it open for her. Ladonna then found the best lemons and dropped them into the bag gently. "Come to think of it, he did a lot of weird things though, all of it too much of a bad thing. He had toilets in his yard, fifteen of 'em, and his wife planted flowers in them."

"But toilets belong in the bathroom," Emily whispered, hoping no one would hear her say such naughty words.

"Yeah, they do, but it's fairly common in the South. It's just a style, um...my aunt knows more about this than I do, but it's Country Chic," she said, pronouncing "chic" like "chick" instead of "sheek." Emily laughed. "What? Is it somethin' I said?"

"It's 'sheek', not 'chick!' Chicks are baby chickens!" Emily giggled.

"Aww, you're right, you're right," Ladonna nodded, grabbing a twisty-tie from the stack to keep the bag closed. "Let's just get some strawberries and we'll be on our way."

But as they neared the strawberries, Emily could tell Ladonna recognized the woman looking the plastic boxes over. They greeted each other with thick Southern accents, then broke into a conversation Emily did not understand, so she picked at the nearby limes display instead.

An hour later, the items were purchased, but Ladonna couldn't get over seeing an old friend in Elwood City. Even though Emily overheard the entire conversation, Ladonna told it over to her on the walk back to Emily's house, and she didn't leave for another thirty minutes because she was talking.

Once she was gone, Emily regretted the whole project. Ladonna was too strange for her likings, and she didn't understand Southern culture. To her, it was just weird. Why would you have toilets in your yard as planters? There was nothing "chic" about that.

Emily sighed. She didn't want Ladonna to help her. They were supposed to sell lemonde Saturday AND Sunday. If Ladonna talked the whole time, Emily was going to be in big trouble.

But the next day, Emily said nothing, and Ladonna started out quietly, helping Emily put together the pitchers of lemonade, complete with lemon slices and strawberry chunks. Then she helped Emily set up a table on the sidewalk out front, and she remained inside while Emily put down a tablecloth and taped up a sign with the costs written on it.

After their first few customers left satisfied, more people came up, and just before noon, Ladonna's friend from the supermarket arrived, and the odd and loud conversation began again. It was so odd and loud that a few people bypassed the stand altogether, choosing to walk on the opposite side of the street instead. After a few more people did that, Emily got upset, bursting into tears and running inside.

"I better go handle this," Ladonna winked to her friend, handing her a second glass of lemonade and taking her money. She locked the box behind her and carried everything with her into the house. "Emily! Where are you?"

"She isn't to be disturbed," her nanny hissed from the stairs. She then broke into a string of French insults, not knowing Ladonna's heritage. After a few particualrly nasty comments, Ladonna grew offended and responded with her own brand of Southern counter attacks.

The French nanny gasped, "You speak French? You?" she laughed with a condescending tone.

"Yeah, I speak French. I'm from Lousiana, and I speak English, Creole, and French, sometimes all three at once! I don't know why you and that kid have to act so high and mighty just because you don't understand somebody. Well guess what? I don't like some of the things you do either, but you don't see me being all mean about it!"

"I'm sorry. I'll go talk to Emily. I didn't know," the nanny blushed.

"No, no, it's fine. Miss Morgan's house is a few blocks over. I'll just go tell her I can't do this until her kids learn who I really am. Goodbye," Ladonna spat, putting the things down onto a small, fancy table and leaving in a huff.

When Emily found out how Ladonna reacted, she immediately felt horrible. How could she be so mean to someone she didn't even understand? She had to tell them both she was sorry, but when she called Ladonna's number, no one answered. She then tried Miss Morgan, but she didn't answer either.

That night, rain poured over Elwood City, and it lasted well into Sunday afternoon. Emily felt as grey and dark as the skies, her bad feelings making her feel sick inside.

Emily didn't want to go to school, but she wasn't running a temperature, so she was dropped off anyway. When DW tried to talk to her, Emily ignored her. She felt too sick to speak.

When Miss Morgan came out of her office with Ladonna, Emily's face flushed as red as a tomato. What was she doing here? Were they going to call her out in front of everyone? Emily had no chance to run away before finding out the truth.

"Settle down, settle down," Miss Morgan smiled. "Alright, let's come to the story time area for some fun, okay? Alright, this is Ladonna Compson. She's a student at Lakewood Elementary School, a new student. She moved from the state of Lousiana, a state in the Southern United States. She's decided to introduce herself and her culture to you so you can understand her better. Ladonna, take it away."

Ladonna pulled down a map of Lousiana, then she told the students the story of Lousiana, a story she'd heard from her family, all of whom were Lousiana natives. She mentioned other things about Southern culture, even things from other states, and when she was done, her father appeared with a few Southern food dishes for the students to try, including a fresh gallon of sweet tea.

Emily felt respect for Southern culture, as did the other students. And because she was so comfortable, she apologized to Ladonna in front of everyone. Ladonna accepted, and at the end of the day, everyone was happy.

And that afternoon, Ladonna and Emily set up their lemonade stand again. They were sold out within an hour, and both left very, very happy.

~End

Theme 010: Lemonde

A/N: This theme is from a one-shot theme list challenge I'm doing with TheUltimateCombo. We've posted them on our profiles if you're interested in joining us, and I plan on submitting them to my deviantArt account, SS-Chrys, as well.

Also, I'm from the South, though not Lousiana, and I realize we might come off as strange to some people. The conversation type I mention is the ever-so-popular "Who do you know?" conversation. Whether you're from here or not, people will stop to ask who you know, and if you know no one in the area, they'll try to say you're related to or know just about anybody. I've never had it happen to me, but I'm not super social, so I'm sure it's just a matter of time:)

And yes, some people do plant flowers in toilets here. I'm not one of them (I'm no gardener) but it's common and it does look okay if you like that sort of thing. And yes, many people here eat frog legs (I've never had them), and I am a sweet tea addict. I'm probably drinking it as I post this and as you read this, and it's delicious though addicting.

And while every outsider seems strange at first, try to be accepting and learn about them. It's fun and you'll make awesome friends:D I'll get off my soapbox now. I hope you guys enjoyed the one-shot:)


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